285. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Indonesian Ambassador (Moekarto) and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Jones), Washington, November 12, 19571
SUBJECT
- Indonesia
Ambassador Moekarto asked me to have luncheon with him to discuss a number of matters, but it was apparent that the main thing he had on his mind was the subject of West New Guinea.
1. West New Guinea
As soon as the social amenities had been observed, he took out of his pocket a telegram he had received from Djakarta on this subject. In successive interviews with Foreign Minister Subandrio and Prime Minister Djuanda, Ambassador Allison had said that the United States favored transfer of sovereignty over West New Guinea within the next three to five years, the Ambassador reported. The Ambassador said that he wanted to check with me to find out whether this represented the views of the United States Government. I questioned him closely as to the context in which the alleged statements had been made but the Ambassador said the telegram gave no further details. I replied that, as he was aware, our position on this issue was one of strict neutrality as between our two friends—Indonesia and the Netherlands—and that this continued to be our position. He inquired as to whether there had been any recent developments [Page 496] which would have justified Ambassador Allison’s remarks, to which I replied that there had been no new developments except that there had been considerable discussion in connection with the forthcoming introduction of the Indonesian resolution in the United Nations on the West Irian question and that our neutral position had been reaffirmed. I inquired as to the type of resolution the Indonesians planned to introduce on West New Guinea and he said it would be a strong one, calling for the UN to use its good offices.
- Source: Department of State, FE Files: Lot 59 D 19, MC—Indonesians 1957. Secret. Drafted by Jones who made two memoranda of this conversation; see supra. Filed as an attachment to Document 290. The source text bears the notation “Not to be distributed outside FE”.↩